Basket.



G. W. HOFFMAN.

BASKET.

` APPLICATION FILED AUG. 8, 1908. 905,701. Y Patented Dec.1,19o8.

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9 g u l album? mE Nouns Frisk: m.A wAsmNcmN, nA C GEORGE W. HOFFMAN, OF SHILOH, OHIO.

BASKET'.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 1, 1908.

. Application filed August 8, 1906. Serial No. 329,758.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. HOFFMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Shiloh, in the county of Richland and State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Baskets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to baskets designed especially for use in shipping bananas, and has for its objects to produce a comparatively simple, inexpensive device of this character which in practice will eifectually protect the fruit during transportation, one which is susceptible of a requisite degree of expansion, thus permitting ready introduction of the bunches of bananas thereto, and one which permits of a number of the baskets being assembled in compact form for return shipment.

With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises the novel features of construction and combination of parts more fully hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a basket embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken centrally and longitudinally therethrough. Fig. 3 is a top lan view of the basket. Fig. 4 is a bottom pllan view of the same,

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the basket or crate comprises a body 1, which is diminishingly tapered from its upper to its lower end, as shown, and made up of thin strips a of wood or other tough material having the requisite degree of springiness or elasticity for the purpose presently explained, the body 1, which is open at its upper end, being rovided with a bottom composed of a plura ity of members or slats 3 crossed as shown and connected at their points of intersection by tacks or other fastening members 4 and corresponding in number to the number of slats 2, the lower ends of which latter are secured by tacks or other fastening members 5 to the ends of the slats 3, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

Applied around the body or crate l is a plura ity of hoops or bands 6, 7, 8, of which the lower hoop 8 is positioned in line with the ends of the bottom slats 3 and serves to maintain the lower ends of the slats 2 in secure engagement with the slats 3 and prevent accidental escape of the fastening members 5, the slats 2 being secured at their upper ends to the band 6 and between their ends to the band 7 by means of fastening members 9. The tacks or fastenings 9 are disposed above the level of the bottom slats 3 so that the tacks will not penetrate the latter in being driven through the lower hoop and side slats. This will permit the ends of the tacks to be clenched so that there will be no danger of the hoop becoming loosened and as long as the hoop is retained in place, it forms a retainer for the fastenings 5 that secure the side slats to the bottom slats.

In practice, the bunches of bananas are introduced through the upper open end of the basket into the latter for shipment, it being understood that in practice some suitable packing material may be employed as a lilling around the bunches to hold them snugly in place. In this connection it may be mentioned that the slats 2 are susceptible of a certain amount of yieldability, whereby they may s ring outward to permit introduction into t e basket of a bunch of bananas of somewhat greater diameter than that of the basket, which will obviously protect the fruit during transportation.

A number of empty baskets may, owing to their tapered form, be nested one within another, thus permitting of the baskets being arranged in compact form for economizing space during reshipment.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

In a crate for shipping bananas or the like, the combination of a plurality of side slats spaced apart, with a bottom composed of half as many slats as there are side slats and one half arranged spaced apart and parallel to each other and transversely to the other half, fastenings securing the slats of the bottom together at the points of crossing, a plurality of hoops encircling the side slats at the top and bottom thereof and at an intermediate point, said bottom being arranged with its under slats flush with the bottom hoop and said bottom hoop being of greater height than the thickness of the bottom, a set of fastenings driven through the lower ends of the side slats and into the extremities of the slats of the bottom to secure the bottom to the side slats, the bottom hoop encircling the lower ends of the side slats to cooperate with In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE W. HOFFMAN.

the said fastenings for holding the bottom in place and also forming means for preventing the fastenings from Working loose, and a, seeond set of fastenings passing through the bot- .5 tom hoop and side slats only for retaining the l Witnesses:

hoop in position over the first set of fasten- H. A. GARRETT, Y

ings. GEO. W. SHAFER. 

